During this time of year, when many people are thinking about what they want to receive for the holidays, it is also a great time to give to others. As many teens prepare for this holiday season, they may feel inspired by the opportunity to contribute back to their community. Through service, fundraising efforts, and many simple acts of kindness, teens will be encouraged to model their compassion, commitment to leadership, and purpose through charitable efforts. Through giving back to their communities, teens will have the chance to shine as exemplary role models and build confidence while benefiting others.
During the holiday season, when people reflect on community, connection, and empathy, teens can engage their emotions and translate them into meaningful action. Holiday giving for teens will allow them to discover first-hand just how powerful small acts of kindness can be, creating a ripple effect within entire communities and supporting the well-being of individuals within those communities.
The Role of Giving in Teen Mental Health
There are many studies and real-time occurrences that support the idea that charitable giving positively impacts a person’s mental wellness and wellbeing. For teens, philanthropy serves as an effective buffer against the negative effects of stress, anxiety, and depression. Through participating in holiday giving for teens, individuals build their self-identity and sense of usefulness, helping to increase emotional resilience. Kids who perform volunteerism or mentoring for others often develop higher self-esteem, greater confidence, and increased happiness. While some of the positive impacts of philanthropy exist externally, it can also create positive changes within individuals.
Philanthropy creates a framework for individuals, providing a sense of structure, purpose, and belonging that is vital for a positive experience for teens, particularly those who are navigating through challenging times of growth, maturation, and development. Holiday giving for teens not only provides a sense of belonging and emotional comfort, but it also gives teens healthy ways to express themselves through the many different mediums of creating and innovating. By becoming active givers, teens build strong social relationships with others, creating better coping skills to deal with stresses throughout their lives.
What Teen Giving Looks Like
Children and teens, according to Youth Service America, have a greater volunteer rate than adults when given access to supportive environments. Through foundations, schools, and community groups, like the Edward Taylor Coombs (ETC), which empowers teens to be effective leaders and leaders, not only does the ETC cultivate leadership skills in teens, but it teaches them to be good role models in fundraising, volunteering, and developing through experiential service.
Participating in philanthropy with your teen establishes a foundation within youth that will carry through to adulthood and develop life-long volunteering habits. Studies have shown that people who start volunteering at a young age tend to continue as adults. Accordingly, by introducing philanthropy and holiday giving for teens while they are still in their formative years, we can prepare teens to be the next generation of civic leaders and compassionate members of society.
How to Engage Teens in Holiday Giving
The first step in getting your teen to support others in the holiday season is making those opportunities visible and significant. Holiday giving for teens can take many forms. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Organizing or participating in food drives
- Writing kindness cards for seniors and/or hospital patients
- Hosting a clothing swap and donating the extras
- Volunteering at community kitchens and local shelters
- Conducting a social media kindness campaign
- Making care packages for essential workers and displaced families
Channel Kindness has created a variety of kindness acts that are great for teens to execute. Additionally, Mental Health and Family Therapists recommend that parents model giving and demonstrate to their kids how to demonstrate generosity. Parents should encourage their teenagers to identify the causes they support and think about what things would resonate with them once they have finished serving.
Like many others, the ETC Foundation has created structured programs that have incorporated philanthropy, education, and mentoring. We can demonstrate that holiday giving for teens isn’t about a one-time event on your calendar- it is about developing leadership, empathy, and vision within each individual. Teens apart of the ETC Foundation have participated in the program and become community leaders, and continue to be change-makers in their communities.
Closing Thoughts
Holiday giving for teens is much more than just a seasonal event. It will help establish a lifelong desire to give and help others. Developing a culture of giving during the holiday season for our teens will enable them to recognize their own potential for making positive changes in their communities. Let’s use this holiday season to create an ongoing commitment to support our teens in their efforts to make positive contributions and change to their communities. Supporting holiday giving for teens is an investment in Holiday Giving, but more importantly, it is an investment in our children and ourselves as human beings. As a result, we are creating a future where kindness is recognized as a building block to a better life rather than a seasonal event.
